For the Love of Gold
by Erisah Mae
Summary: Nori has never really understood the intrinsic attractions of gold. Then he meets Prince Fili, and realises he might have found an exception. Pre-slash. Reformatted so that it won't make eyes bleed anymore, I swear.
1. Chapter 1

All dwarves loved gold.

That was what the other races said.

And it was true in one sense, Nori allowed. Gold was a good metal for shaping into jewellery, and doing fine work that would never tarnish. Gold in and of itself as a material was inherently good for making things "fit for a king".

What the other races tended to ignore was that they loved gold almost as well- for its value in trade, for its shiny, sun-like lustre. Men, elves, both races Nori had had more than a little to do with over the years since the exodus from Erebor, and he had never seen either race turn away a gold piece easily.

Of course, that did have a little to do with the _kind_ of men and elves that Nori was most likely to associate with, but that was beside the point.

(He had however noted that there seemed to be a slight discrepancy in the usual trend when it came to hobbits. Nori was immediately suspicious of a race that didn't seem to value the same things as the others, until he realised at least part of the truth- hobbits didn't really believe in owning things that weren't imbued with memories. Bilbo had been upset that the things they were damaging when the company had stampeded rough-shod through his house were things that had belonged to his late parents, and other deceased family members. He had been near distraught then, but only mildly annoyed when Nori pinched his pipe and tobacco. Nori felt a lot guiltier after he realised just what flustered the hobbit.)

The thing about the relationship of dwarves and gold though, was it was one of them metaphor things, Nori thought. He knew about metaphors because someone had had to teach Ori how to read, and back in those days, only Dori had been old enough to go out and work. The funny part of course had been when Ori had caught on that books were full of information, and that information could be _worth_ something, and then swiftly far outstripped Nori's patchy scholarship. He still talked with Nori about everything he learned, partly out of habit, since it had been Nori who had got him started on the whole thing, and partly because Nori had the sort of shifty, ("creative" Ori insisted) turn of mind that could take a few random bits of information, combine them, and then turn it into profit that kept food in their bellies. Sometimes, sure, this involved property that was not, in the strictest of legal senses, Nori's, but at the end of the day, he would rather see himself and his brothers fed than be respectable.

And that was the thing about gold that some seemed to forget. Gold, as far as Nori was concerned, was a means to an end. A material that when found or owned, meant that your family would not be hungry, that your children would not go barefoot, that you could keep a roof over the heads of your precious people. It wasn't the mere ownership of it that made it important, it was what you could spend it on. Gold that simply remained in your hands was only useful as its potential for security, not its shiny lustre. When it came to shiny things, Nori much preferred to own a good sharp dagger, all things being equal.

Maybe some misers, (like old King Thror, Nori very carefully never said aloud in the earshot of most of Thorin's Company,) might think otherwise, but Nori had never really seen what it was that made some stare at gold like it was a wonder of the world.

That was, at least, until he met Prince Fili.

Well, that was a slight exaggeration. When Nori was first introduced to Prince Fili, he sort of half expected that he would be the type to put on airs and graces, to be maybe a little ornamental, like a lot of the nobles he had run into (and stolen from) in his time.

At least, that was until he noticed that as much as the prince might have a noble lineage, (according to Dori they shared an ancestor a couple of generations back, but Nori wasn't sure it counted if the child from that union had been due to a no-doubt drunken fumble between king and chamber-maid,) and he did sometimes carry himself with a bit of formality when under the strict eye of his king uncle, he was every bit as ragged as the rest of them. In fact, Nori was pretty sure that he himself owned better-quality boots, and in light of that somewhat embarrassing fact, he thought he might have an inkling why it was that some didn't really consider the Durinsons to be "proper" royals.

Of course, he thought that a stupid way of judging rulership (outsiders were apparently blind to the fact that gold or no gold, crown or no crown, the dwarves of Erebor still considered themselves loyal to the Durin line, and followed their lead, and expected them to settle their petty disputes,) but, he was just a thief and a scoundrel, so it wasn't like any of that sort were likely to ask his opinion on the matter.

Because Fili was indeed, Prince Fili, and the Heir Apparent etcetera, etcetera, Nori would have no doubt paid attention to him at one point or another. You didn't exactly ignore royals when you were in their midst, after all.

But it took a while for Nori to realise that wherever the prince was, his eyes followed.

It was easy enough to explain such a thing, of course. The two brothers Fili and Kili had a tendency towards mischief that rivalled even Nori's own, and thus were often loud, rambunctious, and generally entertaining to keep within sight.

It did Nori's heart good to see a pair of brothers were able to get on so well, when he considered the often tense relations between himself and Dori, which poor old Ori tended to get swept into the middle of when he attempted to play peacekeeper. Fili and Kili always had each other's backs, and seemed to do almost everything together.

So it came as a bit of a shock to him, one day, when he saw them fighting over something.

Fili ended up throwing his hands up in disgust and storming off, in a fit of pique that made Nori see that though Kili might have inherited his uncle's colouring, Fili had definitely inherited his temper.

On a whim, Nori decided to follow him.

After a while, the prince seemed to decide that he had gone far enough, found a tree, and started throwing daggers at it.

Nori watched this for a few minutes, and waited until the prince was walking forward to collect them to have another round before he said, "you're doing it wrong."

And then caught the dagger that the prince threw at his head.

"Huh," said Nori, blinking. "Well at least you're not stupid." He lowered the blade that he had caught by snatching it out of the air by the hilt.

He watched as the prince's face fell.

"I'm sorry! It's just, you startled me, and…"

Nori chuckled. "Oh don't worry your pretty head over it. I should have known better than to startle someone when he's on edge and has just shown to be halfway decent at throwing knives. Good to know you're smart enough to keep a spare, as well as your short-range weapons." He balanced the blade on one fingertip, held it there for a few moments, then tossed it into the air and caught it again. "Not a bad weight on these. I've seen a few better, but not many."

To Nori's surprise, he saw the prince grin. "I'll tell Uncle you approve then."

Nori checked the makers' mark, and then whistled. "Well how about that. I knew his craft was smithing, but I wouldn't have guessed he could make something this fine." He went to toss the blade back, and then thought better of it, and then inwardly shrugged and did it anyway (though he was careful to not aim for anything vital. He was incautious, not suicidal.)

Fili, to his delight, snatched the blade out of the air fairly easily.

"You know, if I had missed that-" the prince started.

Nori rolled his eyes and interrupted with, "Treason, yeah well. Dori always said I'd end up on the gallows. Sometimes I just like to flirt with it a bit."

To his surprise, Fili rolled his eyes right back. "No, for one thing, you were aiming for the air next to my ear, not my head. Don't think that I missed that, because I didn't. What I was trying to say was that if I missed a knife thrown that slow, then my old teacher would have shaved her head in shame, considering the amount of time she spent getting me up to scratch."

Well that was not the response Nori had been expecting.

"Who was your teacher?" Nori asked, curious.

Fili bared his teeth in a somewhat savage grin. "Lura Quickblade."

Nori groaned in sympathy.

"My condolences."

Fili's eyebrows raised. "I've never heard that reaction before."

Nori smirked. "Well then you've probably never met another student of hers. Granted, the old battleaxe is one of the best out there, but a crankier, more downright prickly dwarrowdam I've never had the misfortune to meet."

Fili blinked. "Wait…" Then he laughed. "Are you telling me that I've finally met 'Trouble'?"

Nori snorted. "I'm sure you and trouble were well acquainted before you met me, boyo." He paused. "She still call me that, then?"

Fili grinned. "She was always telling stories about 'the last student who was worth her exalted time, who thought he was a charmer.'"

Nori let out a startled laugh. "That sounds like something she'd say, but I'm surprised she told stories about me. We didn't exactly part ways on a friendly note." Actually, they had parted ways when Nori had managed to land himself in gaol (again), and she had bailed him out before telling him not to come by again until he had stopped being stupid.

Nori had naturally interpreted that as to not come by until he had stopped being a thief. Maybe after this quest was done he'd finally be able to go back and visit his old teacher, and beg her forgiveness. He hadn't meant to disappoint her like that. (He never really meant to disappoint anyone, but given his profession, he wasn't generally that good at avoiding such things.)

Fili shrugged. "I wouldn't know. She never said anything about that, except that she misjudged how high an opinion you had of yourself."

Nori wasn't sure how to interpret that. Something to puzzle over on another day.

Fortunately, Fili, perhaps noting how uncomfortable this conversation was making the thief, changed the subject. "So you said I was doing something wrong. What did you mean?"

Nori smirked. "If you're going to use a tree as a target, you can at least do it in a way that's going to provide at least a bit of a challenge." He pointed to a nearby birch tree with pale white bark and black mottling. "Try and stick a point in each spot on the bark that's around chest-height."

Fili considered this, then nodded. "Fair point." He grinned. "Join me?"

Nori stared at him for a moment, then shrugged inwardly and grinned. "Sure, if you don't mind me reminding you what a novice you are."

Fili, rather than being offended, merely widened his grin. "Come on then, put your money where your mouth is."

Nori snorted. "Alright then, if you want to pay me to entertain you, that's your call. I bet you nine silver that any mark you hit, I can hit, within the span of your pinky nail, and without scratching your blades."

Fili raised his brows. "Alright then. Limit on number?"

Nori grinned. "Your daggers are pretty, but I highly doubt you have as many on you as I do."

"You have more than eight?" Fili asked, challengingly. "As far as weapons go, I can only see three on you, including that big mace you carry."

Nori just smirked.

Fili laughed. "Alright then, be mysterious. Very well. Here goes."

The prince, Nori noted as he watched, wasn't bad at this. In fact, Nori would go so far as to say that he was rather proficient. Nori was also interested to see how many blades Fili seemed to be hiding. There were at least three more than he would have guessed, having not really paid that much attention before, (since strictly speaking the prince was an ally, not a mark).

However, as the prince had said, he only threw eight blades (keeping, Nori noted with approval, his two longer knives and at least one hold-out in the small of his back, which Nori noticed because now he was actually paying attention).

Once he was done, he jerked his chin towards Nori in challenge.

Nori sneered elegantly at him, and then proceeded to throw eight of his little throwing knives to sit a few millimetres to the right of each of Fili's. Then, he kept going until he had thrown another eight, these sitting within a few millimetres of the left of each of Fili's blades.

Fili gaped at him.

"Mahal, where do you _keep_ all of those?" he had an odd tone in his voice that Nori wasn't entirely sure he recognised.

Nori sniffed daintily. "Wouldn't you like to know," he said and then smirked. "I believe I've earned my silver."

"Twice over," Fili admitted freely. "Though we only bet the original nine silver, so that's all you're getting."

Nori shrugged, unbothered.

Fili counted out the coins, then handed them over. He opened his mouth to say something, when a sudden crashing through the undergrowth caused them to turn their attention back towards where the others were camping.

A second later, Kili appeared, looking woebegone.

"I'm _sorry_ Fili, I didn't mean it like that," he said.

Fili sighed. "I know you didn't, but you also know why I was angry, right?"

Kili nodded. "I promise I won't interfere with your lovelife anymore."

"Good," said Fili. "It's irritating enough that Ma keeps talking about how she wants me to find a nice dwarf to settle down with without you getting in on the action."

Kili apologised again, and then said, "I'm going hunting. Did you want to come?"

"Alright. Just give me a minute." Fili pulled his blades from the tree, and then turned back to Nori. "Say I wanted to learn how to be as good at throwing knives as you are. Would you be willing to give me a few tips?"

Nori was a little taken aback.

"I suppose, if you want," he said after a pause.

Fili beamed at him, and, in a moment of dramatic appropriateness, moved a half-step forward so that a sunbeam hit his blonde hair and made it shine like a golden halo.

Before Nori could properly process the sudden vision in front of him, Fili bowed slightly, and then jogged after Kili, who was already making his way through the trees.

So that, thought Nori a little faintly, was why people made such a fuss about the lustre of gold.

He shook himself, and retrieved his blades, speedily replacing them in their usual positions.

Nori was good at pulling information together and turning it into profit.

Point the first: apparently the reason Nori was paying an inordinate amount of attention to the prince was that he was attracted to him.

Point the second: the prince (hereafter referred to as 'Fili', since Nori had had the chance to get actually somewhat acquainted) actually had a bit of a sense of humour, and seemed _interested_ rather than disturbed about the number of blades that Nori habitually concealed on his person.

Point the third: Fili was single.

Point the fourth: Fili had just requested Nori spend a bit of time with him.

It wasn't that Nori thought that Fili had designs on him. He was well aware that Fili was genuinely asking for tips to improve himself, not as some sort of façade to spend more time with Nori in and of himself.

But if there was one thing Nori was good at, it was seizing opportunities, and then working them into his favour.

But was this a terrible idea?

(It wasn't that Nori never enacted his terrible ideas, but he usually tried to avoid the ones that might get him killed, and considering the closer family members that Fili surrounded himself with- Thorin and Dwalin both came to mind, but it was Balin that Nori was genuinely terrified of- that was a very real risk here.)

This bore some thinking about.

If Nori walked back to camp whistling, then well, that was his own business, wasn't it.

_A/N: For those of you who ran into the first version of this, I'm really sorry. That's what I get for posting after midnight. Thanks to the people who PM'd me to tell me what I'd done._

_Anyway, if people be wanting more, I might write another chapter or two, but otherwise this is sitting as a comfortable oneshot._


	2. Chapter 2

It turned out that Fili was a diligent student.

Nori was a little impressed despite himself – it was not so much that he had thought that the prince would not take his tutelage seriously, but more that he had not quite expected the single-minded intensity at which Fili practiced. Every comment that Nori made, every slight adjustment, every technique explained were listened to, evaluated, and then carefully incorporated into Fili's developing style. Almost every evening, in the time after camp had been set up and before the food was ready, Fili would glance across at him, Nori would nod, and the two of them would go and find an appropriate clearing.

It took only two days before Dwalin invited himself along to watch.

Nori wondered briefly if he should be offended at the presence of the giant lump who was scowling at him from the cover of the trees (what was even the point of hiding when Dwalin knew that Nori knew that Dwalin knew Nori knew Dwalin was there?) but in the end decided to gracefully ignore him, knowing that acting unbothered would irritate the snot out of the old wardog.

Fili had noticed the oaf's presence within the space of a minute, and had privately rolled his eyes at Nori, muttering under his breath about over-protective cousins. Nori tried not to grin too savagely back, when he announced a brief break from target practice, and then proceeded to teach Fili every hand-to-hand trick he knew, starting at "unsporting" and making his way down the list until he hit the ones that he described as "for orcs only".

He thought that doing this would annoy Dwalin into coming out and confronting him for "corrupting the prince", or that Fili would ask him to stick to the knife-work in future, if he felt comfortable at all with continuing to learn from (let along stand beside) such a dishonourable fighter.

Imagine his surprise when Fili not only had not a single word of complaint about learning such a dirty form of combat (actually, he took to it like fire to dry tinder, which caused Nori to realise that the prince had a carefully-hidden vicious streak that was frankly _delightful_), but Dwalin later looked him in the eye across the campfire and nodded to him respectfully.

Nori did not at all know how to react to that.

Fili noticed, (Nori was starting to realise that Fili was a lot more observant than he would have ever credited,) and filled him in at the next lesson.

"Dwalin has known me and Kili since we were born," Fili said, after they had been warming up in silence for a few minutes. "More to the point, he's a great friend of my mother's. So when we insisted on coming on this quest, she made him promise on his honour that he would do whatever he could to make sure we get through in one piece."

That was all he said, but Nori didn't need an illustration to catch Fili's meaning. Dwalin apparently had decided that any trick that Fili could learn that might keep him alive longer, that might prevent Dwalin from being forsworn, was worth it. And if Nori was the one taking time to teach the prince things that might keep him alive, then Nori had Dwalin's… respect? Gratitude? Support?

All of these were things that Nori had never thought he would receive from the old goat. Nori had not missed the fact that Dwalin was suspicious of his motives from the beginning of the journey. It was a badly kept secret after all (probably only Bilbo was still in the dark, and even then, the hobbit was incredibly adept at going unnoticed, so it was perfectly possible that he had heard it mentioned in one conversation or another) that Nori had joined the quest in part because he had needed to get out of Ered Luin for a time until the heat from a few of his… colleagues died down.

So just this once, Nori chose not to check a gifted gem for flaws.

Where it had only taken Dwalin two days to spy on his lessons with elder prince, it took ten before the younger decided that he too wanted to bear witness.

After he had finished the session with Fili (this time throwing knives at targets whilst running towards or past them- a lot trickier than it looked), Nori waited until he had walked back to the campsite before he paused two metres from the base of the tree that Kili was sitting in.

"Did you want a word, your highness?" Nori asked without bothering to look up.

Kili muttered an oath in Khuzdul, and then jumped down.

"I was just curious," he said, folding his arms in front of him mulishly. "I wanted to see what you were teaching him that Dwalin approved of so much."

Nori raised a braided eyebrow. So apparently both the princes were observant.

Good to know.

Nori shrugged. "I'd teach you the same, but you don't use knives like your brother," he said easily. It wouldn't do to let Kili (or anyone else in the company for that matter) realise that Nori was being just a little selfish in sharing skills that would help keep Fili's skin intact.

(Because whilst a part of Nori would be fascinated to pull back Fili's clothes and armour to explore what scars hid beneath them, to map each and every one with his tongue as he saw if the prince was golden all over, the thought of _new_ scars made his stomach knot uncomfortably.)

Kili grinned at him. "Maybe not, but could you show me a couple of those dirty fighting tricks Dwalin was so impressed by. He was telling Bifur all about them and I haven't heard him sound that impressed since the time Yura drank him under the table. And he married her, so…"

Despite himself, Nori laughed. "Well even if my tastes ran towards bald and tattooed, he's a bit serious for me, so I can't say I'd return the regard."

"Oh?" said Kili in an overly casual tone. "Then where _do_ your tastes lie?"

Nori grinned easily, though inwardly he rolled his eyes. Did Kili think he was subtle?

"Why Kili," he smirked, and then leaned teasingly towards the younger dwarf, fluttering his eyelashes like some red-light district denizen. "I didn't think you viewed me that way." He then leaned back and fanned himself with one hand. "I'm all a-flutter with bashfulness, I just don't know what to say!"

Kili snorted. "Funny. And here was me thinking that you preferred blondes," he said bluntly.

Nori dropped the faux-flirting, but kept his grin. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean," he said lightly. Damn. He hadn't thought he was being that obvious.

Kili rolled his eyes. "Sure you don't." He winked then. "You know, he likes you too."

Nori raised an eyebrow. Now that was interesting information. Both Kili's last utterance, and the fact that he had chosen to share said information (be it true or not) with Nori.

"Be that as it may," Nori said non-committally, (he wasn't sure if he _dared_ believe that what the princeling said was true,) "and bypassing the fact that you are apparently trying to set your brother up with a thief and vagabond, (I'm sure your uncle will be _thrilled,_) did you not _just_ make up after the two of you fought about you interfering in his lovelife?"

Kili's grin was pure mischief. "Brother has always had a soft spot for trouble-makers," he replied. "Mostly because he, being the eldest, and the heir, always felt he had to at least keep up the pretence of behaving. Wilfully turning a blind eye has always been his favourite way of rebelling."

He sobered then. "That said, he often has terrible taste. The last dwarf he went walking with treated him badly, only wanted him for his connections to Uncle Thorin."

Nori cocked his head. "And you think I'm of a higher calibre than that last dwarf?" he said a little incredulously.

Kili nodded enthusiastically.

Nori felt his eyes widen in disbelief.

"What makes you think I'll be any better?" he demanded. He knew that madness ran in the Durin line, but he had not thought to see evidence of it like _this_.

Kili's grin widened. "One, you don't need Fili to get access to Thorin, since you already have his favour for coming on the quest, Two," he ticked off his fingers, "you don't want to risk your place in the company, and you're right under Thorin's nose, so if you have any self-preservation instinct you won't hurt Fili deliberately." Nori shuddered delicately at the very thought of what Thorin would do to him if he caught him playing with Fili.

"Three," Kili continued, "Dwalin likes you, and Dwalin's gut instinct is rarely wrong once he's had a chance to get someone's measure, four, you look at my brother like he's made of gold and diamonds," (shit, was he really that transparent?) "five, you might be a rogue, but I've seen you around your brothers enough to see that you're more interested in your precious people's well-being than you'd ever be willing to admit, and six…" Kili's grin turned a little nasty. "If I thought for one second that you intended my brother hurt, then there would be a terrible accident in your past, rather than this friendly conversation in your present."

Nori blinked.

Right then. Under the mischief and the friendly mayhem, the younger prince had some interesting depths. He probably should have suspected. After all, his mask was similar.

"The thing is," Kili continued breezily, "is that Fili is the heir, so he has been taught how to be a diplomat, and how to not offend people, and how to use his charm to negotiate, and history, trade, all those sorts of things. Now me," Kili smirked, and his eyes glinted with something between amusement and cruelty, "I'm the spare. The emphasis of what _I_ have been taught has always been to support my brother, in whatever way I can. So he has to be the nicer one, whilst I can afford to get my hands a little dirty. Of course," and his tone became a lot lighter, "we could switch places if we had to. Fili is at least as ruthless as me, when the diplomatic options run out, and I _like_ convincing people that I'm perfectly harmless. I'd rather be underestimated than feared for the most part, so I'm happy to play the clown, especially because it makes Fili smile. But when Fili stops smiling, I stop playing the clown. So if my brother offers you his heart, you had best be taking _very_ good care of it, else we won't have words, let alone a friendly conversation like this one. Understand? Good." And with that, Kili gave a slight mocking bow, and then went after his brother.

Leaving Nori standing in the clearing practically gobsmacked.

Huh.

Well that had not gone how he expected.

Nori did not often underestimate people. He prided himself on being able to detect people's layers, to measure their potentials as foes.

He had completely underestimated the younger prince.

Well then.

He supposed that told him where he stood.

Nori considered heading back to camp, but instead decided to climb a tree and think for a while.

As much as Kili had spent a good half of that conversation indirectly threatening him, he had also effectively given his blessing.

It had been a long time since the last that Nori had been considered to be an actual good prospective partner in any sense other than for business or in the sack.

The fact that Kili apparently trusted Nori with Fili's emotional well-being was…

Both humbling and troubling.

(What kind of low-born scoundrel had Fili been with before that Nori looked good in comparison? He shuddered to contemplate it.)

He would have to think about this.

However, he could not help but admit to himself that despite the fact that he had just been thoroughly threatened, he felt…

Optimistic.

Yes. He would definitely have to think on this.

And not just because if he screwed it up he would have multiple homicidal dwarves from Durin's line to contend with.

Nori was a thief.

Thieves knew that it was important to take care with treasure.

...

_A/N: Alright, I'll freely admit something._

_That did _not_ go how I thought it was going to go._

_But I stand by it. _

_Politics can be deadly._

_Politics when you're part of an exiled people of desperate refugees and you're intended to lead them, and it was arguably a member of your family who attracted the dragon in the first place..._

_In that context, you didn't really think Thorin would encourage his sister-sons to be _nice_ over_ alive, _did you?_


End file.
